Anthony Rizzo all but says he’s returning to the New York Yankees

Just hours before Opening Day in 2021, the Chicago Cubs were “very confident” that they would extend their first baseman Anthony Rizzo to a long-term deal. However, just four months later, the Cubs traded Rizzo to the New York Yankees for two minor league prospects.

Now, with the MLB lockout, Anthony Rizzo is a free agent. This week, he joined Jomboy Media’s Compound Podcast, which is hosted by one of Jomboy Media’s investors and Rizzo’s former teammate, Ian Happ.

In the nearly 70-minute podcast, Anthony Rizzo all but said that he is returning to the New York Yankees.

Anthony Rizzo essentially confirmed he’d love to be with the New York Yankees

Back in October, Bob Klapisch of NJ.com reported on Twitter that Anthony Rizzo is “quite eager” to rejoin the New York Yankees and on the Compound Podcast, Rizzo essentially confirmed it.

“Our time in New York was great. We loved it,” Rizzo said. “We lived in the Upper West Side. Lived near (Central Park). Took Kevin (his dog) to the park pretty much every day in the morning, a nice stroll through Central Park. Got to basically live in the city for two or three months and enjoy New York City for those two or three months and then playing baseball for the Yankees, it was a good time. We really enjoyed it …”

Rizzo also said that it was a special moment wearing a Yankees uniform for the very first time.

“You put that uniform on for the first time, it’s definitely special. … There’s only a few jerseys around this league that when you put them on, it’s different, and the Yankees are definitely one of them.”

Rizzo is still a free agent but he confirmed that there were a lot of talks with him and teams before the lockout was enacted.

“It’s a recruiting process,” said Rizzo. “It was fun getting the calls and hearing what teams had to say and why they want me and why I’m a good fit. But at the end of it, the right sort of deals didn’t come to fruition at the deadline and now you just sit and wait.”

Rizzo also said that despite playing with a big market team in the Chicago Cubs, it was a “really cool experience” to being in a “different atmosphere.

“The best part about playing for the Yankees was being able to go to another organization that was so first-class and just sit back and observe everything and how it goes,” Rizzo said. “See how it works in a different atmosphere like that. Same goal, but just [a] different atmosphere. It was really cool to experience that and learn so much more from people on the other side.”

Brian Cashman confirmed at the GM Meetings in November that the two sides were talking so as long as the New York Yankees don’t nickel and dime themselves out of Rizzo or get somebody better (e.g. Freddie Freeman or Matt Olson), there’s no excuse for the Yankees to not enter the season with Anthony Rizzo on their roster.